Seven Nights
by sadtoseeyago
Summary: (Season One, starts between A New Day and Starved for Help) Mark and Lilly are assigned to night-watches together for a week, and during the course of this time, their relationship slowly starts to develop. But what will this cause, and what will it mean for them and for their future? Other characters likely to be involved later, rated T to be safe...
1. Night One, A Carrot

I have no idea what I'm doing...

Okay. So I kind of doubt that anyone will read this. I mean season one's long over, and Lilly wasn't exactly the most loved character, and Mark wasn't exactly one who got much attention OR screen time. But darn it, I proudly ship Mark with Lilly! So... I wrote a thing. ...Okay I suppose I haven't written it yet but I will write it! And am...like...at this moment.

Never mind, now I'm just rambling.

Anyway, I'm not sure how long this'll end up being, or exactly what will happen, so I'm just going to wing it. It probably won't be anything exciting, probably just drabble-conversations, really. Sorries.

One more thing. If I remember correctly, Mark had been with the group for three months before things started to get..awkward. You know what I mean. So this'll take place about a month into his stay with them.

So... Let us begin, I guess ^^;

* * *

Night One. A Carrot.

* * *

It wasn't that he disliked Lilly. Really, Mark didn't. He saw her as being an intelligent, capable leader, and he appreciated that.

It was her dad that scared the hell out of him.

"Mark! Quit bein' such a pansy and help me with the damn wall!" Larry'd shouted in annoyance, "Y'act like you haven't eaten in a week, for God's sake..."

The young man had grown used to these kinds of abuses, as he's been working closely with Larry - building up a protective wall to keep the walkers out - since he'd first joined the group. Sometimes, the job wasn't bad, and the two of them had what felt like real conversations. They would discuss their times with the military, or talk about other aspects of life before the start of the end of the world. Sometimes, Larry would go on rants about how no one at the air force base had ever seemed to listen to Lilly, and then question whether or not Mark would listen to her. And Mark would just remind him that Lilly had held a desk job, and he was a mechanic. Apart from the occasional wave and nod, they hardly ever saw one another, and didn't even know the other's name until a month ago when they'd found him alone, locked in one of the closets at the base's commissary.

But Mark didn't really mind the ramblings. He understood that Larry was just proud of Lilly and her accomplishments, and didn't like the idea of her being ignored. It was only natural, wasn't it?

But they had bad days too. Days when Mark didn't get a ration, or was feeling particularly weak or tired, and Larry would shout and holler and throw a fit. Like today. Today had been a bad day.

Today, Mark had wanted to tell him to shut up, that he'd been assigned to nightwatch that evening and for the rest of the week, and needed to get some sleep beforehand. But of course he didn't, and he did the work as Larry commanded, mostly because he didn't enjoy being screamed at, and he knew the rest of the group didn't enjoy hearing Larry scream. Especially Lilly, given that she worried about her father's health.

It hadn't been too bad in the end. Once he realized that Mark had been assigned to nightwatch along with Lilly, he told him to go and get some sleep, saying 'My girl's not gonna do all the work for your lazy ass!' or something along those lines. But Mark hadn't cared. He gladly walked away, took his ration for the evening - an apple and a handful of crackers - from Lilly, retreated to his room, ate and soon managed to fall asleep, not waking up until a knock at the door and a call from Lee told him that everyone else was going to bed, meaning it was time for him to get up.

And now here he was, sitting atop the RV with Lilly. They faced opposite ways, and were almost back-to-back, but not entirely. It was a bit awkward, as the two didn't speak much. But Mark didn't mind the silence all that much, and was content to his own thoughts. He didn't worry about walkers very much. They didn't get too many unless they were very loud, and they'd mastered staying quiet.

"I saved my ration from earlier," Lilly said, and as he looked to her, held up three whole carrots from the commissary. What a meal. "Do you want one? I'm not really hungry."

She really wasn't. At least, not compared to how she assumed he felt. He'd spent his entire waking time through the day helping her father with the wall, and an apple and some crackers weren't really going to do much for that. She'd spent most of the day on lookout, and that was hardly any physical exertion.

Mark was quiet for a moment. The offer itself came as a pretty big surprise. Apart from Lee, Kenny and Katjaa, who all had dependent children to worry about, no one ever really offered anything to those around them. It was a very every-man-for-himself kind of thing, usually.

"No thanks," he finally said, looking toward the woods rather than at the food, trying to ignore the pains in his stomach. "I'm not hungry either."

Lies. All lies.

Her assumption was right, of course, but it felt rather selfish of him to accept, as well as some expression of weakness. It wasn't that Mark was a very proud man, but he was stubborn, and didn't like to accept help. Either he was the one helping, or it was a team effort from the beginning, according to him.

She ate quietly, and he didn't say much of anything for a time, allowing his mind to wander as his eyes scanned the woods around them, wondering how long this would all go on for. Or if the end of the world would ever really end at all.

It was really a depressing thing to go on thinking about, and Mark thought maybe he should try starting a conversation, but he had very little to say. He yawned tiredly, running a hand through his black hair and adjusting his glasses, being careful not to lean up against her as felt himself relax slightly more than he really should have. But he was so tired...

"Maybe we should just call it quits and go to sleep early," he said, though it was more of a joke than anything else. When she didn't give a response he felt himself turn pink with embarrassment, wondering if he should just clarify that he was joking. "Uh..."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"We're waiting."

"For what?"

No answer.

He chuckled awkwardly. What was he supposed to say now? "M-maybe your dad's right. Maybe I'm just lazy." He didn't know why he was so nervous about it, given that he'd known Lilly for a little over a month now. He'd never noticed this nervousness before. Perhaps because he and Lilly had never really been alone before...

It was then that she turned and spared a glance at him, shaking her head a bit. "No, you're not," she said simply, "You work harder with him than anyone else will. You actually really impress him."

He blinked, "Really?"

Lilly nodded.

Well that was a bit of a shock. But Mark just grinned slightly and nodded to himself, "Well, that's good to know..."

And they were quiet after that, for a while. There weren't many walkers tonight, and the few they did manage to see seemed to just be wandering aimlessly in the woods.

It was tough to see them, since they didn't shine flashlights at them directly. They mostly relied on natural light, from the moon and the stars and whatever else could produce light. Mark didn't mind the difficulty. He found this whole activity relaxing, in a way. Of course, after a while, he began to worry that he'd fall asleep purely out of exhaustion, and his mind raced to think of something to say...

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting for long," He said suddenly, "Lee woke me. I didn't manage to stay up..." He didn't know what he meant by that last part, but there it was.

"It's alright," Lilly said in turn, sparing another glance back at him before looking back out toward the woods. And she paused, and continued again, "Why didn't Doug wake you? Aren't you sharing a room with him?"

Everyone, apart from her and Larry, had been sharing a room with someone. Lee was with Clementine, Kenny was with Katjaa and Duck, and Mark, she assumed, was with his friend Doug. Things felt safer that way, when one knew they weren't alone. Lilly had wanted to share a room with her father, but Larry had always been a rather solitary man.

"Oh yeah I was," he started, "But I moved into my own room. Doug's great, but he wouldn't shut up about pie..." Why the other man had become randomly obsessed with desert, he wasn't sure, but it was a pain in the ass to be starving and hear nothing but 'pie pie pie pie pie...'

Unfortunately for Mark, the very thought of eating reminded him that he was starving, his stomach tightening sharply and letting out a loud rumble, causing him to go from pink to crimson and turn his eyes away from his companion entirely, hoping she somehow didn't take note.

He didn't know why this was so embarrassing to him. He suddenly felt like some silly teenager, and he was twenty-eight, damn it! And he just sat there, and began to chuckle nervously, "I... uhm..."

He was glad she couldn't see his face in the darkness.

"Not hungry, huh?"

He blinked stupidly, not able to tell if her tone was one of annoyance or amusement. Granted, he'd never really seen Lilly laugh, or even smile for more than a moment, so he assumed it was annoyance. "N-not at all!" He lied, only for the sound to repeat itself a few moments later, leading him to sigh and wish he could just disappear.

It was a surprise when he saw a hand in the corner of his eye, holding a carrot for him. "You're a terrible liar." She said, not in an unkind tone. "It's the last carrot we have from the commissary, so enjoy it."

Mark hesitated, but took it after a moment, sighing a bit as he looked at it, and then glanced to her. "Thank you..." He looked at the carrot appreciatively, dangling it between his thumb and index finger. "I'll never forget this carrot." He said, before taking a bite.

And he was quiet for a while, letting a few minutes pass between each bite. "Funny, the more I eat the worse it gets..."

Lilly frowned and scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Don't complain," she said, "I'm not complaining that carrots suck."

"Oh, not the carrot, my stomach," Mark said, shrugging his shoulders. It wasn't a surprise to him. He'd grown used to feeling worse after eating, given the amount of physical work he usually did.

"Oh..."

Lilly suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to share, on her part. "Sorry, then." Lilly was hardly one to apologize, unless she honestly thought she may have messed up. Which was rare.

"Don't be," Mark said in turn. "It was very kind of you." He turned to look at her, his blue eyes making contact with her brown for the first real time since he'd arrived there. "So thank you."

It was almost a surprise how genuinely he said it. The fact was that now, even close friends weren't really willing to share anymore. So this was a nice surprise. Mark yawned again, allowing himself to lean slightly against her as he took another bite.

Lilly felt herself blush slightly. It wasn't often that someone thanked her for giving them food, as most felt entitled to more. But Mark was never one to complain, even though he'd had the right to. More than any of them, really. "You're welcome." She said. "How's the carrot?"

Mark took another bite and shrugged his shoulders. "It's a carrot."

* * *

So that happened. Uhm... I'm not really sure but I felt like I made Lilly pretty OOC, so I'm sorry about that. ...Admittedly, Mark had very little screentime, so... this is kind of just how I imagine him acting. I apologize if it's terrible compared to your idea...

Should I continue this? Should this be a thing? I was gonna have them have a different conversation or moment together each night while on lookout, but if this wasn't good...

Er... Let me know? ...But if it WAS good... Let me know? Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll get to update soon.


	2. Night Two, A Question

Still no real idea as to what I'm doing, folks... Trying!

This chapter legit sucks. But I needed to get something done in my life so I thought 'Oh! Let's update that fanfiction! Even if it means everyone's super out of character! :D' And uh...yeah.

You've been warned.

Don't hate. ...Please.

* * *

Night Two, A Question.

* * *

"How long do you think this'll go on for?"

The two of them had been sitting there for a little over an hour now, and had sat in relative silence. Now and then one of them would sigh, or yawn, or something to that effect.

So when Mark asked this question - which, admittedly, was a pretty loaded one - Lilly was a bit taken back, and it took her a moment or two to just process what he was asking her.

And even then, she wasn't sure how to answer it.

"I don't know," she said, not in an annoyed or angry tone, shrugging a bit and sparing a glance back in his direction. "It could be a few more weeks, or a few months..."

Or longer, but Lilly didn't want to think too much about that possibility.

Mark sighed and nodded in understanding, running an anxious hand through dark hair. It was late, and the others were all in bed. Kenny's family was all together, Larry was likely dreaming of shouting at them all, Lee was with Clementine, and Doug was having visions of pie dance through his head. And here he was with Lilly, in the middle of the night, sitting on the RV.

And yet, despite the fact that he was physically tired, he wasn't really annoyed with being here.

And he sighed, thinking, "A few months," he repeated steadily, thinking about it.

They still heard distant gunshots now and then. This morning, he could have sworn he'd heard a plane.

"Assuming that they don't find a cure, or a way to keep everyone safe," he went on, "I think we'll need to start moving somewhere else soon."

There was a pause, and Lilly gave a small hum, half-agreement and half-annoyance. This wasn't exactly the kind of thing that she wanted to talk about. Not now, and not anytime soon. "The group's fine here for now."

Another pause.

Mark blushed slightly, not wanting to get on her nerves, but not sure whether it was his talking, or the topic of choice, or what. "I mean... I dunno," He said, "The walkers seem pretty intent to eat all the animals around us. Hunting's just gonna get tougher, and our rations aren't gonna last forever. We're gonna start getting too hungry t-"

"Yeah, I know, Mark," Lilly whispered harshly. "Believe me. From what I heard last night, I know _you_ get hungry."

The young man blushed darkly, and turned and faced the other way. He brought one knee up toward his chest, anchoring his arm around it to pull him forward slightly, so that he wasn't leaning up against her back. He didn't want to annoy him, and figured that perhaps physical space would help in this feat. And he laughed nervously, half-glancing back in her direction, though they didn't really look at one another. "Sorry."

In the silence that followed, Mark felt the need to kick himself for going on about it. Why didn't he just keep his mouth shut?

Now Lilly was angry with him, and he'd need to spend the rest of the night with an angry Lilly - which was always a scary Lilly - contemplating his own stupidity.

He let out a heavy sigh, eyes going upward toward the sky. The night had started out clear, but now it seemed that clouds were gathering above them, like maybe they'd have a storm in the morning.

Hearing him sigh, Lilly felt a small twinge of guilt. It was strange, as she never felt that when she yelled at Kenny, or even at Lee or Doug. But with Mark, there was something about him...

Well, there were a lot of things to like about Mark. He didn't complain - at least, not about other people, he was sincere, he very rarely asked for help... Though he sometimes needed it, so that was a flaw too. But Lilly didn't know why she found it so difficult to be angry with him.

Maybe it was simply because he was apologetic. Or maybe because he never complained about her father. He was clearly scared of Larry, but he didn't seem to hate him like Kenny or Lee sometimes did. ...Well, her dad hated Lee, so she felt like Lee had an excuse. But still.

"But...I guess I can't blame you," she finally said, rolling her eyes a bit, "You work too hard sometimes, you know. My dad told me that sometimes he just stops and waits to see if you pass out." The end of the sentence came out with a bit of amusement, because she could really imagine it happening. Mark really did push himself too far at times.

Mark laughed a bit in turn, not really surprised at the idea of Larry just watching him as an experiment. "As long as it entertains him, I guess..." But as he went on, he frowned a bit, and the frown stayed in place as he let his mind wander. "Sometimes I don't really know why I bother."

The tone Mark used now was a bit more somber, and thoughtful, in a way. And Lilly turned to look at him, laying a hand onto his shoulder to make him face her. "Why do you say that?" She asked, brown eyes looking at him earnestly. She didn't like the sound of it, "Do I need to start worrying about you?"

She already worried about her father, and about the kids, and about Kenny's stupidity. Really, the only ones she hadn't been worrying about up until now were Katjaa, Doug, Mark and Lee. And Doug didn't even really count, half the time, since he hardly knew how to do anything apart from work on the generator and figure out how much gas they could use, and for how long, until they ran out altogether. At this point, he'd mathed his way to five months on one hour of electricity use per day. And after that one our, the generators went back off, the lights were out, and everyone was in bed.

But she'd never needed to worry about Mark, and she didn't want to start.

He blinked, his head tilting slightly until he realized what she meant. And then he smirked a little, "No, I don't think so," he said, "I don't think I'm depressed or anything."

That wasn't true. But then again, they were all depressed. So he hardly thought that it mattered. "I just sometimes don't think there's much point to it all. Will we wake up safe, or won't we? Will we starve to death, or freeze to death, or boil to death, or be eaten by walkers? I don't know why we go on living. I don't know why we go on living at all. It's easier being dead."

Despite the morbid things he said, his tone wasn't terribly morbid. Mark didn't want to die, and he wasn't miserable. He just..found it strange, how people clung to life in times of such distress, as the world was collapsing all around them.

Lilly stayed quiet, wondering what had led Mark to go on about this. It was strange. The night before, he'd only been thinking about eating, and now he seemed to have turned into some pseudo-philosopher.

It wasn't that she thought Mark unintelligent, but he'd always been rather passive toward her, and toward the others. He minded his business, didn't get involved in group issues, did what he was told, and was quiet otherwise. He'd seemed...average, in a boring kind of way.

"I...guess because we all have things we care about," Lilly said quietly, thinking about it. "I have my dad, Lee has Clementine, Kenny has his family, you..." A pause. "You have..."

Mark chuckled quietly, "I don't really have a whole lot," he said, "Doug at least has his projects. But for me, it's a very self-centered life. And that's...kind of difficult." He said, glancing out toward the woods, at a walker that was getting just a tiny bit too close, and shooting a bullet through it.

As though he hadn't stopped at all, he went on. "It's tough to live for just yourself," He said, "I don't really have a big project to go back to each day like Doug, or someone that I care about more than the others like everyone else. So it's just eat, rest, small talk, eat, rest, small talk... and fear, of course. A lot of fear."

Maybe having someone to care about would lessen the fear. He didn't know.

"Sorry," Mark finally said after a long pause, "I'll shut up. It's not like my whining makes much of a difference."

Though he was making a point. Strangely, he hadn't had trouble saying it to Lilly, and as he looked away and back toward the woods, he relaxed a bit, letting himself lean against her slightly, as he'd been doing before.

Lilly, in turn, didn't move away from him. But she still wanted to be sure Mark was alright. They weren't exactly close, but she saw him as being a better friend than anyone else in the group. "I... care about you," she said, though she didn't really like hearing it out loud. Lilly had never been one for outward or verbal affection, and normally wouldn't be caught dead saying anything like this. "If I didn't, you wouldn't be in the group."

Mark laughed, and then sighed, shaking his head. "Don't lie, Lilly," he muttered, though he was more amused than anything, "You and I both know you guys only took me cause I had food."

She rolled her eyes again, leaning back slightly and turning her head, so that she could sort of look at him as she spoke. "You were locked in a closet, Mark. We could have taken the food and left you there, you know."

He'd locked himself in after killing about a dozen walkers. He'd known some of them, been friends with some of them, hated some of them, but never wished any dead. He'd been in the commissary closet for three days, too afraid to step out, but not wanting to die in there either. He'd kept a gun pressed to his head the whole time, in case no one found him soon. He didn't want to live alone, even if he had enough food to last a year... Anything was better than alone.

"So why'd you take me?" He asked, "I mean, I looked pretty insane at that point. Covered in walker gunk, and acting kind of insane. Everybody seemed scared of me." Except for Lilly, who'd basically decided he was going with them.

There was a pause after that, and Lilly wasn't entirely sure what to tell him. And so she just waited a few moments, as though time and the faint breeze that passed them would answer his question for her.

"Because..." she paused, sighing a little, "I care about you."

It wasn't that they'd been friends, but they'd seen each other. They'd spoken a couple of times. It wasn't as though she could have just tossed him away or had Kenny shoot him. What kind of person would that make her?

"And I didn't want to leave you." She finished, shrugging her shoulders a bit. She would really just tell him '_The only reason YOU'RE here is because you had food!'_ when he made her angry, which wasn't too often, given how passive Mark tended to be.

And even then, it pained her to be cruel to Mark.

The silence that followed wasn't a painful one, or particularly awkward. It was nice. The kind of silence that one wouldn't feel the need to fill. The idea that someone cared enough to bring him along, rather than leave him, made him happy. He knew that he and Lilly weren't close friends - neither of them really had close friends in this group - but he still saw her as someone he cared for.

The familiar feeling of nervousness returned to him, and it still felt strange to him. This was a kind of feeling he hadn't experienced for months. It wasn't exactly a physical desire - though that was there - but it was something more than that. It made him want to make sure Lilly was alright, to make sure she wasn't angry with him. To push himself farther as he worked on the wall, to look more closely out into the woods. To make sure they were alright.

He liked this feeling. It was nice, in an odd way.

"Lilly," he started, though he kept his eyes toward the forest, "Can I say something childish and probably really stupid, all things considered?"

She blinked, and turned toward him, though he still faced away, and pushed a brown strand of hair out of her face, as though it mattered whether or not she could see him. "I guess." She said, shrugging.

And he laughed a bit, "Do you promise you won't get mad?"

"...I guess."

"And you won't laugh at me?"

"Sure."

And he smiled, and half-turned to look at Lilly. "I think I've got a crush on you."

* * *

Yeah so that sucked, and I'm probably gonna start writing the next chapter in like two minutes and then forget it for a month and a half like last time! :D Don't hate me lol

I mean I said it was probably gonna be a loose-plotted drabbly seven or eight-chapter piece of nothing. So...yeah.


End file.
